Trains Face a Rough Political Terrain

HAIRATAN, Jan 6, 2012 (IPS) - Last month the first cargo train crossed the ‘Friendship Bridge’ from Uzbekistan to the border town Hairatan in northern Afghanistan, and rolled along 75 kilometres of newly laid track to Mazar-e-Sharif. The importance of the northern trade route - which connects Central Asia’s Northern Distribution Network (NDN) to Afghanistan - has increased since the U.S. and Pakistan’s relationship drastically soured...Reading Continue....